Sunday, 9 November 2014

Austria: Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna

Yesterday I got my last two cards from my trip to Vienna and one from Finland.

Both cards from Vienna show pictures from the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien. The Kunsthistorisches Museum was founded in 1891 and is today one of the biggest and most important museums in the World. It is also the most visited museum of Austria.

The first card shows the painting Infanta Margarita Teresa in a white dress by Velázquez. Until the 25th February 2015 there is a special exhibition about Velázquez at the Kunsthistorisches Museum with paintings from the own collection and with loans from important museums such as the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid, the National Gallery in London and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

With a matching stamp:
Old Masters (issued 18-10-2014)

The other card shows the painting Massacre of the Innocents by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

Stamps:
Christmas (issued 30-11-2014)

Other cards I bought show an Egyptian Hippopotamus, a Babylonian Panel with a lion, a Roman Athlete, Raphael's Madonna in the Meadow and Albrecht Dürer's Emperor Charlemagne.

Another card shows Benvenuto Cellini's famous Salt Cellar. The Salt Cellar is a part-enamelled gold table sculpture and was created between 1540 and 1543 for Francis I of France. The man depicts the sea and the woman the earth. Actually Cellini prepared the models for Cardinal Ippolito d'Este, but Cardinal Ippolito d'Este thought something like this is only worthy of a king. Charles IX of France gave it to Archduke Ferdinand II of Tyrol after his wedding. First it was shown in Castle Ambras and in the 19th century it came to the Kunsthistorisches Museum.

All the other cards I bought show paintings of Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Pieter Bruegel the Elder was a painter of the Dutch Renaissance and became famous for his depictions of the peasant life in the Duchy of Brabant. The Kunsthistorisches Museum ownes the largest collection of paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The cards show Children's Games, The Tower of Babel, Hunters in the Snow and Peasant Wedding.